The Ball
by Song Of Hope
Summary: Madoka is forcing Hope to go to a masquerade. She's reluctant, but with Madoka holding something over her head, she has no choice but to go. Ginga is doing the same to Kyoya. Will either of them survive the ball? Or will they die of boredom? Or, maybe, will they meet new people, and fall into something they've never known. FINISHED! I will continue in "The Mystery of the Mask."
1. The Invitations

**Song Of Hope: This is an experimental story with my OC Hope Song. It feels weird not using a Japanese name, but I love her name! Also, it's based off of my penname. Please, read it.**

**Girl's Side**

Hope sighed as she flopped down on her yellow bed. She looked at the fancy invitation in her hand.

_You are formally invited to the  
__WBBA Grand Masquerade  
__The ball will be at 6:00 PM  
__On November 15th  
__You are permitted one guest  
__And one guest only  
__Please RSVP by Nov 5th._

"What are they thinking? I'm not going to go to a stinking ball?" She sighed. Besides, it'll have fancy people, wearing fancy dresses, and," she gagged at the thought, "make-up. Who would want to go?" Just then, she got a text from Madoka.

_"Hey, u gonna go?"_ She sighed.

_ "No using abbreviations when texting me. I hate them."_

_ "Sorry. But, I got an invite to the WBBA Ball. Apparently, it'll be a Masquerade."_

_ "No way. I can't stand dresses, or high heels, or my hair being covered in a million tons of hairspray, or, God forbid, make-up."_

_ "You never know."_

_ "I'm not going."_

_ "You know that if you don't go, Victoria and Dedra will somehow make you unconscious and then get you ready while you're helpless. Then you'll wake up right outside the doors."_ Hope sighed.

_ "I know, but I've got to try. There's no way I'm going to that ball. I don't want anyone to see me in a dress."_

_ "You'd be wearing a mask. No one would know who you are."_

_ "Don't care. Not going."_

_ "Come on! You have to go! I don't want to be there all by myself! I'd be bored out of my mind."_

_ "Then take Ginga."_ Hope was the only one that Madoka had told about her crush on Ginga, although she had never met him. Her dad always kept her busy working her his own hardware store.

_ "I would, but he'd probably just stuff his face the entire time. I'm pretty sure he only sees me as a friend. And it'd be fun."_

_ "Make-up? High heels? Dresses? Hairspray? No way."_

_ "You don't have to wear heels, you'd only need a little make-up, but you've got me there on the dresses and hairspray part. You'll live."_

_ "Not going."_

_ "I didn't want it to come to this, but fine. I'll tell everyone the story about…"_ She purposely left the end part hanging. She sat up on her bed.

_ "You wouldn't!"_

_ "I would. You just have to go, and I'll stay silent."_

_ "You are evil."_

_ "You need to learn that being a girl isn't so bad. You can't be a guy all the time, especially since you're not."_

_ "I like being a guy way better than being a girl. Guys leave me alone, they don't mess with me, they don't ask me for my number, and they don't grab my butt."_

_ "I don't care. You're still going."_ Hope looked at the invitation.

_"Fine, but only because you're forcing me to do it."_

_ "Great! You'll look amazing. Later. Got a customer."_ Hope flopped down on the bed again, sighing, which she seemed to be doing a lot lately.

"What have I gotten myself into? I should've never told her that."

**Guy's Side**

Kyoya sat in the warehouse, on some crates, wondering how the hell the WBBA sent him an invitation to an abandoned warehouse.

_You are formally invited to the  
WBBA Grand Masquerade  
__The ball will be at 6:00 PM  
__On November 15th  
__You are permitted one guest  
__And one guest only  
__Please RSVP by Nov 5th._

"What the hell is wrong with them? There's no way I'd go to something like that. It's full of stiffs, and tight collars, and fancy people. They're out of their minds if they think they can get me to go to this." Then, he got a text from Ginga.

_"Did you get an invite too?"_ He sighed. Ginga didn't understand text talk, so anytime he texted or anytime you texted him, everything had to be spelled out.

_"Yeah. I'm not sure which is more amazing. How the hell they sent it to me, or how they can think I'd actually go. I'd never show my face at one of those things."_

"_From what Madoka said, a Masquerade is a masked ball. That means everyone will be wearing masks."_

"_I'm not going Ginga. You've have to kill me first."_

"_Come on! My dad's gonna force me to go, and I don't want to be there alone!"_

"_Take Madoka then."_ Kyoya already knew that Ginga liked her.

"_Madoka probably would just be there, talking to everyone else in a way that I wouldn't understand. And Madoka would probably say no anyway."_

"_Bowties? Tuxes? Fancy shoes? No way in hell."_

"_I'll tell everyone about the time that you…"_

"_You said you'd never tell anyone that!"_

"_It's your fault for not killing me when I saw it happen."_

"_I will if you tell. You know what? Never mind that. Then I'd lose my rival."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_So, you going?"_

"_Only because you're holding this over my head."_

"_Alright! See you there."_ Kyoya closed his phone and sighed.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

**Song Of Hope: Just to let you know, I picked a random date and time. That's not when the story will be finished. It'll be finished whenever I finish it. R&R.**


	2. The Dresses

**Song Of Hope: Please, keep reading! I need reviews to make me want to write more. I'm not even gonna bother with having the guys in this chapter, because guys are very finicky when it comes to tuxes and things like that. They pretty much just grab the first one they see.**

Three days later, Hope walked into the B-Pit. Madoka was standing and waiting for her.

"Perfect timing. I just got off work."

"Me too. Let's get this torture over with." Madoka sighed.

"It's just a dress. Not the hangman's noose!"

"Might as well be." She sighed.

"Let's just get going." They walked to a fancy dress shop, filled with beautiful dresses that come with jewelry and gloves too. And, there was an entire section just for masquerade gowns, masks included. Madoka dragged Hope over there and started looking at all the dresses. "Oh, wow! Look at all these dresses! They're so amazing! I just want all of them!"

"Madoka, chill out. They're just dresses. Not puppies." Madoka grabbed some dresses and handed all of them to Hope.

"Just try these on. Once we find you the perfect dress, we'll get the matching mask. Then I'll get my dress and mask." She sighed as Madoka pushed her to the dressing rooms. Madoka then shut the door behind her. "We're not leaving until you find a dress." Hope changed out of her baggy dark green sweatshirt and baggy jeans, and stripped off her white tank top. Then, she put on a beautiful blue dress with a sweetheart neckline, the bodice covered in a swirling bejeweled silver pattern, with a large puffing out bottom. She came out to show Madoka.

"There's no way in hell I'm wearing this." Madoka was amazed at what she saw.

"Oh, no, you can't wear it. There's too much cleavage. But what surprises me is how much you have, or that you have any."

"I wear the sweatshirt for a reason. It keeps guys eyes where they're supposed to be." She went back in and took off the blue dress. She then put on an elegant red dress with a v-neckline, a crossed pattern in the back, and while not showing cleavage, showed how nice of a butt she really had. She showed Madoka that one too.

"No. It looks good, but your butt looks way too big." Hope went back in and tried on her third dress. This one was green, and had one shoulder, with a green rose on the shoulder, and the fabric swirled to one side on the bodice. It had three roses on the waist, and green tulle, with a lighter green fabric than the fabric on the bodice that went down to her feet. When Hope came out in that dress, Madoka was stunned.

"You look amazing Hope!" She looked at herself in the mirror.

"It's too fancy, too big, and too girly."

"No, you are buying that dress!" She looked at the price tag.

"It's too expensive anyway."

"I can buy it. My dad won't mind. Besides, he still owes your dad anyway for that business transaction. I'm sure your dad would want you to go, and if he doesn't, your mom would make him let you. Now take it off, and let's go get the mask." Hope sighed, knowing she couldn't get out of this. She changed back into her clothes and they went to get the matching mask, which was a soft green mask with gold trimming that became harder and harder of a green as it got closer to the edges, with green glitter around the eyes so that when someone looked through it, it kinda looked like a dream, and was able to be mounted on a person's face without a string or a stick. It also came with an ornate gold tiara with green jewels, which Hope tried to keep Madoka from buying, but she bought it anyway. She then bought her a teardrop shaped green pendant with green rose petals in between the white pearls, white elbow length gloves, and a gold bangle.

Madoka's dress was a blue strapless sweetheart neckline dress, with a silver pattern on the bodice, a mainly tulle skirt with three little black butterflies on it going down diagonally, and ended at about her ankles. The mask she had was like Hope's except for blue with silver trimming, and she bought a tiara like Hope's except for with blue and silver instead of green and gold, a pendant with a heart shaped sapphire with silver wings, white elbow length gloves, and a silver bangle. They walked to Madoka's shop with all their items.

"This is ridiculous. I don't need all this stuff."

"It's a ball. You do need all of it. And you'll look amazing in that gown."

"I'm just glad we didn't get earrings."

"I didn't bother, because when I saw our dresses, I knew we wouldn't need them. I have two pairs that would be perfect." She dragged Hope to her room and showed her the earrings. One was a pair of green roses, with little tiny golden droplets on it like water mist, and a pair of sapphire hearts.

"I'm really regretting letting my mom pierce my ears."

"They'll be perfect, and just so you don't try and purposely destroy the dress," she grabbed all of Hope's stuff, "I'll keep them here."

"How did you know I was gonna do that?"

"Because, I know you. You'll live with having to go to one ball. Quit being so negative about it. It'll be great."

"It'll be terrible and I'll die of boredom."

"You can't really die of boredom."

"Ever watched Fairly Oddparents?"

"That's a cartoon!"

"He still dies of boredom."

"Hope, you are going to this ball. Do you want me to tell everyone about the-"

"No! Fine. But if you don't keep your mouth shut, I will kill you."

"No you wouldn't." Hope sighed. Madoka was right about that. Madoka was her only friend. And since she was almost always usually working in her dad's store, she never had a chance to meet any of Madoka's friends. She wish she had though, but she actually went to school, in the boy's uniform, and nobody like her. Then she'd get home, do her homework, change into her work uniform, then go downstairs (she lived above her dad's store, like Madoka) and get to work. She didn't even have weekends off. But, the Masquerade was after work, and Madoka's dad had gotten her dad to let her off work early for this to get ready. And Hope really hated it.

"Yeah, you're right. I couldn't kill you. But I could put you in a coma."

"Whatever. Just go back to your house. We'll meet up again on the night of the ball."

**Song Of Hope: This will probably be a very short story, now that I think about it. But keep reading. I'll write and update as soon as possible.**


	3. River Song

Song Of Hope: Dalek Sec was the best Dalek ever. He actually felt something other than hate. Oh well. Here's chapter 3.

The night of the Masquerade, Hope went over to Madoka's house about three hours before it started. Madoka was waiting for her downstairs.

"There you are. Come on! Let's get started!"

"You really are gonna subject me to this torture, aren't you?"

"It's not torture, it's hair, make-up, and dresses. Plus, I found a pair of perfect shoes." Hope groaned.

"They are high heels, are they?"

"Yes they are. Don't complain, you'll love how you look."

Two and a Half Hours Later

"I hate how I look." She was wearing everything, and make-up. Her eyeshadow was soft green to match the mask, her mascara was a very dark green, her lips stain was a light red, not light enough to be pink, and her blush was perfectly put on her cheeks, a very light shade of pink. Her hair was up in a bun, with a swirl of her brown hair falling down the left side of her face. Madoka looked similar, but her eye shadow was blue and her swirl fell down the right side. Hope's shoes were simple heels, but they had straps and had a green rose on the outward facing side. Madoka's were strappy heels that were sapphire blue.

"We both look amazing. Guys won't be able to take their eyes off of us."

"And that's exactly why I hate how I look." Madoka started dragging Hope.

"Come on. My dad paid for a limo, and he's going to kill us if we don't actually use it. It'll take about half of an hour to get to the designated location for the ball. We need to be on time. Did you remember your invitation?" Hope smiled.

"Oops, I guess I must've forgotten it." Madoka smiled.

"Did you forget the plus 1 part?"

"Yes, I did."

"You'll be my plus one. Come on, let's go." She dragged Hope by her gloved hand all the way down the stairs and to the white stretch limo. They both got in, and they were on their way.

Half an Hour Later

Ginga and Kyoya were standing outside of the entrance. It was an old palace, one of the Emperor's homes from the Koshon Period. They wore similar suits, except for Ginga's was blue and Kyoya's was green, using a whole lot of hair gel, they had slicked back their hair and Ginga had removed his signature headband. They both wore simple blue and green masks, held on their heads by a string. There were guards to make sure that no one who wasn't invited could get in. They walked up to the guards.

"Invitation please?" They both showed their invitations. "Proceed." They walked in.

"I still can't believe you're making me do this."

"Well, if we get bored, we can always have a battle."

"Fine." A car came behind them. More specifically, it was a white stretch limousine. Two girls, one in green and gold, one in blue and silver came out of the car. They had their hair up in buns, with one having a swirl of hair to the left, the other having a swirl of hair to the right. They both had brown hair, but one had sparkling water blue eyes, the other had dazzling hazel eyes that looked quite like they didn't want to be there. Their masks were intricate, with the color schemes matching. They both wore ornate tiaras, one silver and blue, one gold and green. And they were both absolutely beautiful. They walked up to the guard.

"Invitation please?" The one in blue showed the guard her invitation. "No invitation for you?"

"Oh, my friend was invited, but she lost hers, and I wasn't planning on taking anyone anyway." He nodded.

"Proceed." They walked in.

"I really don't want to be here M-"

"Don't call me by my real name. We're supposed to use aliases."

"Okay then Tea Gardner (yes, from Yu-Gi-Oh! They both look extremely alike. Tea's just older). But seriously, can I please just go. I came, now I can leave."

"We will both stay for the entire time. Don't make me spill."

"You are so evil tonight."

"I need at least more than one friend that's actually a girl. Hikaru's the only girl friend I have. And you, but you're practically a guy."

"And I like it that way."

"Just act like a girl for one night. Act like a girl, and I'll never hold this secret over your head again."

"You promise?"

"I promise on my career as a Bey Mechanic that I will never hold this over your head again."

"Good. I'm going to go and find some food. And I'll try and act like a girl."

"Before you go, you need to learn how to act like a girl. First, the giggle."

"The giggle?"

"When girls hear something funny, they giggle daintily. Try it." Hope giggled. "Put your hand over your mouth. And actually smile." Hope did so and giggled. "Perfect. Now, talk softly, and sweetly, like you do when you talk to little kids."

"You mean motherly?"

"No, similar, but with more of a teenage feel."

"Like this?"

"Perfect. Now, keep your back straight, and your shoulders back. Don't slouch." She held herself like Madoka commanded. "Perfect. And don't talk normally, talk without contractions. Now you can go off." Hope went off to find herself something to do. She ended up bumping into a man dressed in red, with slicked back blonde hair. He had blue eyes that were very cold.

"Greetings. I am Julius Caesar. And might I say, you look like quite the delicate flower." He took her hand and kissed it. She mentally gagged, but kept smiling.

"I am River Song."

"Ah, that is not your true name. I know of the show you took it from. And everyone is using an alias here."

"You know of the Doctor?"

"Indeed, I do. My family owns part of the BBC Corporation. We've personally kept funding it, for it is quite an adventure."

"Do you know of the contents of the new episodes?"

"Yes, I do, but sadly, I cannot give them to you. As the real River Song would say, 'Spoilers'." She giggled like Madoka told her to do.

"Quite true. I guess I should not have asked."

"Pardon me, but you seem quite uncomfortable. Might I ask what is wrong?"

"Truly, I do not have a wish to be here. My friend, going under the alias Tea Gardner, is using quite an embarrassing secret about me to make me be here."

"That is quite unfortunate. But why do you not wish to be here?"

"I truly hate formalities. I hate such things most women tend to love, and lean towards the more boyish side of myself."

"You truly look like a lady tonight." She smiled forcibly.

"If you'll excuse me, I must be off."

"Of course madam." She left, relieved.

"I'm glad that's over. How am I gonna survive this night?"

Song Of Hope: Poor Hope. An encounter and she can't stand anything already. Maybe I'll help her out in the next chapter.


	4. The Maze

**Song Of Hope: It's time for another update. Please keep reading and reviewing.**

River walked around, looking for something actually interesting to do. She was so incredibly bored she felt like she would actually die from it. There were plenty of people around and plenty of things to do, but they were all prim and proper, and not at all fun to her. She finally just gave up and went to the food table, which was filled with fancy little snacks, but nothing of substance. She sighed and grabbed a couple of little snacks, then almost threw up.

"This is absolutely revolting!" She drank something from a little glass that was narrow and supported on a stick with a disk on the bottom, and spat that out too. "Everything here is revolting!" She went off to the garden outside, and just sat there on a stone bench while watching the sunset. "This is gonna kill me."

**Elsewhere**

Kyoya, or rather Shishi, was bored out of his mind. There was absolutely nothing for him to do, and he couldn't even battle because Ginga, or Tenba, was off somewhere else and he didn't feel like finding him. He ended up just wandering around, looking for something to do, until he somehow managed to find himself in a garden. He saw a girl, dressed in green and gold, sitting down on a stone bench. She looked extremely beautiful, but also extremely bored. She was holding her mask, but since her back was to him, he still couldn't see her face. He tried to get at a different angle to see her face, but she put the mask back on before he could. Then she noticed him.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Probably about five seconds." She freaked out.

"You didn't see my face, did you?"

"No, why?" She sighed in relief.

"Good. I don't want anyone to know I'm here. My friend is forcing me to be here by using a secret, though she promises to never use it over my head again in the name of her job. Though, if another event like this ever happens, she'll probably hold it over my head again." He sat down next to her.

"I know what you mean. My rival saw something extremely embarrassing happen to me, and he's making me be here so that he doesn't get bored, but he ran off somewhere anyway."

"My friend's making me do this because she says I need to actually be a girl for once. I'm quite a tomboy. I even wear the boy's uniform from my school. I hate dresses, and high heels, and hair spray, and especially make-up. Make-up's the worst." He laughed.

"I've never met a girl who hated everything related to being one."

"That's because I'm more like a boy that was born a girl."

"So why didn't you just show up in a tux?"

"I tried, but my friend would've murdered me."

"Man, your friend must be very scary."

"Actually, the only reason I don't kill her or anything like that is because she's my only friend." She looked down at the ground. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've been marked as weirdo, freak, and hated by everybody else. My family moved to a town called Metal City when I was about eight. My friend is the daughter of a storeowner, and my dad also owns a store. At first, we hated each other, but our dads made us hang out, and eventually, we became great friends. At school, she would always help me, and pick me up when I fell down. But I ended up training in every physical aspect. Martial Arts, sports, Beyblade, you name it. I became the best athlete, best fighter, and best Blader at my school. Everyone stopped hating me, but then they all became afraid of me. Instead of calling me names, they walk away as soon as I get near them, like I'm cursed or have some sort of deadly disease. But M-I mean, Tea never stopped being my friend. So, that's the real reason I'm doing this. If she wants me to go badly enough to threaten to spill my secret, then I will go. Mine isn't even all that embarrassing. I had won a couple of beauty pageants when I was a little girl. I honestly would've let her tell it, but since she wanted me to go so badly, I went, pretending to try and get out of it. I pretended to lose my invitation, and knew that Tea would take me as her plus one anyways. I'm not really here to protect my secret. I'm here to protect my friendship." She then thought about everything she had just said. "Wait a minute, why am I telling you all this?"

"I honestly don't know. I'm not you, now am I?" They both laughed. Suddenly, a very powerful wind tore through. Since River had a million tons of hairspray, the only hair that got tousled was the little swirl on her face. But it did end up catching the corners of her mask and ripping it off her face. She instantly covered her eyes with her hand, because she still didn't want anyone to see who she was.

"No! My mask!" She stood up, but almost fell over, but Shishi caught her.

"Idiot! There's no way you can get your mask back if you walk around covering your eyes!"

"Well, I'm not letting anyone see who I am, even if it is just one person. Can you be my eyes, and help me look? Please?" To anyone else he would've said no. But for some reason, he was compelled to help her out.

"Fine, but you can't let go, or else you'll end up walking into a wall, or a lake." He grabbed her open hand as he looked in the direction the mask flew off in. "It looks like it headed towards the center of the garden. Let's go." She nodded, blushing. Luckily, he couldn't see her blush, and she was also wearing blush anyway. They started walking towards where the mask had flown off.

"So, you never told me your name."

"And you never told me yours."

"Well, my real name will remain a secret, but my alias is River Song."

"Shishi. Now come on." They walked on, coming across a hedge maze. It had different paths, with different color roses in each path. "Dammit! A maze? We'll never find it."

"Does it have roses?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Are any of the roses green?"

"Yeah, again, I ask, why?"

"My mom always said that if a maze has roses that are your color, then they will lead you to what you are looking for."

"You're going on that?"

"My mother's color was purple, and she not only found her homework that had been blown away, she also met my dad, who was looking for his $20 that had also blown away. And my sister's color is pink, and she found her theatre mask pendant on the ground after she had lost it, but she still doesn't know how it ended up there, but she ended up getting lost and became curious. I could list other times that it's worked for my family, but it would take too long. Just follow the green roses." He thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but he decided it was her mask, not his.

"Alright." They started walking through the maze.

"So, what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"I told you the reason I was here, so can't you return the favor?"

"I never asked you to say anything!" Even with her eyes covered, he could tell she was a little upset. "Fine. I was battling my rival, Tenba, when he beat me. He ended up flinging my Bey so far away that it landed in a pile of literal bull****. And then another cow crapped in the pile. But since it was my Bey, I actually went through the pile, and got my Bey back. I decided to clean it myself, because the person who usually cleans it would've murdered me. It had crap in it, and she would've had to clean it out. I wouldn't have lived five seconds after I showed her." She giggled a little.

"I can see why you don't want anyone to know. I certainly wouldn't. And I'd really hate it if my Leone landed in a pile of crap."

"Leone?"

"Yeah. My Bey is Storm Leone 145WB."

"Mine is Rock Leone 145WB."

"Wow, the only difference is really the Fusion Wheel. That's interesting." They ended up reaching the center of the maze rather quickly. Shishi noticed the mask on the ground. He picked it up.

"I guess you were right about the roses." He handed her the mask.

"Thank you." As best as she could, she turned around so that Shishi couldn't see her face. She then put the mask back on and turned to face him. "Thanks for helping me find my mask. Now, if you'll excuse me," she started walking away, but then tripped because of her heels. She landed on the ground, but her dress bunched up so that it didn't hurt. "I am such a klutz in these heels!" She started to get up, but noticed something on the ground. "Huh?"

"What is it?"

"A message." She got up and they read what it said. It had gotten dark out at that point, but they could still read it.

_Your heart's desire is what you will find  
Or together you will never leave  
The roses are gone and you're left behind  
Until your desires you achieve_

"What does that mean?" River tapped Shishi's shoulder.

"Shishi, the roses are gone." He looked. "Once it's nighttime, flowers close up until the sun rises. I guess these roses also hide in the hedges too." Shishi swore under his breath.

"Great, now how the hell are we supposed to get out of here?" She pondered over what the riddle had said, and thought of it how her sister would've since her sister loves poetry. At this point, she was really glad her sister was so annoying about poetry and analyzing poetry contents and meanings.

"There's something about finding your heart's desire, so it means we get what we really want. I got my mask back, which is what I really wanted. So, you must really want something right now. What do you really want right now?" He blushed a little, but since it was dark, River couldn't see it.

"I really can't say."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"If you can't say it, then do it! Seriously! I want to get out of here, and if you-" he cut her off with a kiss. She was very surprised, since she had never been kissed, and he was still pretty much a complete stranger. But for some reason, she didn't mind. She just went along with the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. Suddenly, she felt a gush of wind, and she was back alone in the garden, sitting on the stone bench. "Was that a daydream? Did I just get so bored that I made that up?" She looked at her gloves, and saw some hair gel on them, as well as a couple teal hairs that probably were already stray and got stuck on her glove from the gel. "So, it wasn't a dream? Then who was that?" She lightly put her fingers on her lips, remembering her first kiss.

**Song Of Hope: Is this chapter good, or was Kyoya way too OOC? Please be honest.**


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